Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, for the last while, we've been considering the passion narrative in Matthew's gospel with reference to our Lord's Supper services. So we're going to look at chapter 28, verses 11 to 15 tonight, but I wanna begin reading in chapter 27 at verse 62. So beginning in Matthew 27 at verse 62, on the next day, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember while he was still alive how that deceiver said, after three days I will rise.
Therefore, command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say to the people, he has risen from the dead. So the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go your way, make it as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
The angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And indeed, he is going before you into Galilee.
There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice.
So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me. Now, while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers saying, tell them, his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure. So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the written word.
We thank you for this time that we can gather together and contemplate in a special way our Lord's death on our behalf. As we've seen that in this narrative in Matthew's gospel, we now come to the resurrection. We come to the lie that was told concerning the resurrection, and we pray, God in heaven, that you would just guide us now by your Spirit. cause us to reflect upon these truths, and cause us to find great joy and encouragement and comfort in our blessed Savior. Again, forgive us for all of our sin and its darkening influence on our minds and hearts, and bless our time together, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Introduction
Well, here in chapter 28, obviously last time we saw the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then the chapter ends with what we call the Great Commission. Our blessed Savior gives this mandate to his church to go therefore and to make disciples of all the nations. But prior to that, and it's only in Matthew's gospel, and I'll explain why in just a moment, we have this sort of counter Great Commission.
We have an anti-Christian Great Commission. We have a deception and a lie that was given in order to propagate this to the Jews such that they would not believe that Jesus was in fact risen from the dead. So the counter mission to the Great Commission is found in chapter 28 verses 11 to 15. After the resurrection, the religious leaders go into damage control.
They go into damage control mode and they have to cook up a particular answer, a response, as to why the tomb is empty. Matthew closes his gospel with these two sections concerning the propagation of a message. In the one, Jesus gives instruction and gives as a promise his abiding presence with his church even to the end of the age. In the other, we see that they are given a lie or told to give a lie to propagate it, and so that they could confound or distort or try and ruin the Christian message.
Sermon Outline Overview
So tonight we'll look first at the explanation of the soldiers in verse 11, and then secondly, the creation of the false narrative in verses 12 to 15. But larger than that, we ought to understand that the devil always rages against the truth. And the devil does so through human means. In this instance, he takes the religious leadership.
In this instance, he takes the soldiers who are easily paid off. And in this instance, he tries to cover the truth of the resurrection with this lie that the disciples came and stole the body. This sort of thing continues unabated in our own day. wherever the true gospel is preached, you will nevertheless find in professing churches, heretics. You will find those that distort the message.
You will find those that add, say for instance, works to faith in the matter of justification. The apostle Paul in Galatians 1 condemns such and pronounces anathema upon them. And he says that there are those who actually want to distort the truth. There are those that actually want to lead you away from the truth as it is in Jesus.
So Christ Most High rules and reigns at the right hand of the Father. 1 Peter 5 tells us that the devil roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And if we ask the question, how does the devil engage in his wickedness, it is through lies and murder. Remember Jesus in John chapter eight, in his confrontation with the religious leaders, he tells the leaders there, you are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He says that he was a murderer and a liar from the beginning.
So it shouldn't surprise us that lies and deception and fraud are often propagated in the name of religion to try and cover the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Soldiers' Report
So let's look at the explanation of the soldiers in verse 11.
Women's Obedience and Soldiers' Failure
Notice that in verse 11a, the women obey the instructions that they were given. Go back for just a moment to 28.9. And as they went to tell his disciples, these are the women, the women who were present at the crucifixion, the women who were present at the burial, and then again at the resurrection. So as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice.
Remember a very sort of ordinary way for someone who had just been raised from the dead to sort of greet somebody. It was akin to our hello. Imagine that you see somebody that had just been raised from the dead, somebody that you knew and loved very affectionately. You knew him over the course of three years.
Now he's raised from the dead and all he says to you is hello. Probably that would leave you wondering, well, is there a lot more you wanna tell us? But that's what Jesus says. So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.
A great illustration of what in theology is called the hypostatic union. The hypostatic union teaches that there's one Christ, one person, two natures, divinity and humanity. The fact that they hold him by the feet underscores his humanity. The fact that they worship him underscores his divinity.
Yet one Christ, one person, two natures. So that is the worship afforded to him. And notice he doesn't rebuff them. Notice he doesn't rebuke them.
Notice he doesn't say, oh, why would you do that? In other instances in the Bible, when an angel, for instance, is worshiped in the book of Revelation, he says, don't do that. I am a servant alongside of you. But when they worship Jesus, Jesus receives it.
And then Jesus gives them instruction in verse 10. Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me. The sort of pinnacle of covenant blessing is the sight of our Lord Jesus Christ and that union and communion that we have with him.
So they respond favorably. They obey. And verse 11a tells us now while they were going, And then it moves secondly into the soldier's report.
Soldiers Report to Chief Priests
The soldier's report to the chief priest, according to 11b. Now these women were probably ecstatic. They were greatly joyful. In fact, look back at verse eight.
So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy. Two concepts that are consistent in the Christian's heart. You can fear God and have joy and thanksgiving and gratitude mingled with that fear. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word.
After they saw Christ, after they worshiped Christ, I doubt that that mitigated their fear or their joy. In other words, it probably increased it. We have seen him risen from the dead. That would certainly instill a degree of trembling in the heart of any sane or rational human.
But as well, we have seen him raised from the dead. It would increase the joy. It would increase the gladness. It would increase the happiness that our savior who died has now been raised again from the dead.
So they are going, but the soldiers are probably slinking along. The soldiers failed at their job. The soldiers were derelict in their duty. As far as we know at this point, not reading ahead and understanding that there's going to be this conspiracy to commit fraud, but right now they have lost their charge.
They had only one job, and that one job was to protect a grave, and in that grave was a dead man. That's a job that just about any sentient human being could accomplish. You don't need great skill sets. You don't need great wisdom.
You don't need to have been accomplished in the workforce outside of that. All you have to do is be there and breathe. And yet they failed. They failed miserably because the tomb is now empty.
So I doubt that they were filled with great joy. They might have had great fear, but not great joy. So the soldiers slink along. France says the opening clause invites the reader to compare two groups hurrying away from the tomb with a message to deliver.
The women are going to go tell the disciples to meet them in Galilee, and the soldiers have to go and say, guess what? The one simple job that we had given to us, we failed to do it. So the soldiers report to the chief priests as they had been placed at their disposal by Pilate. Go back to chapter 27.
Chapter 27, the chief priests or the elders, the Pharisees, they come together to Pilate. They say, Sir, verse 63, we remember while he was still alive how that deceiver said, Amazing they didn't burst into flames. These men were frauds, they were deceits, they were liars, and they followed their father, the devil. And they have the gall to say of Jesus Christ that he is a deceiver?
But notice, after three days I will rise. Therefore, command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say to the people, he is risen from the dead. So the last deception will be worse than the first. So Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go your way, make it as secure as you know how.
So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. So Pilate made these soldiers responsible ultimately to these religious leaders. So now these soldiers have to go and report to these religious leaders what has occurred, that the tomb is in fact empty. Now notice that the soldiers report all the things that had happened.
Now that includes the earthquake, chapter 28, verse 2a. It's a pretty significant event. It would include the descent and presence of the angel, chapter 28, verse 2b. Again, a very significant event.
That would include the rolled back stone, according to 28.2c, and ultimately the empty tomb. Now, you'd like to think that if soldiers had that kind of a story, you'd be a bit more interested in it than simply trying to silence it, simply trying to neutralize it. This reflects the enmity, this reflects the antithesis, this reflects the abject hatred of these religious leaders, of these Jewish leaders, against our Lord Jesus Christ. They had plotted to kill him in Matthew 12.
They put that plan into practice in Matthew 26. They actually succeed in this event, and now he's risen from the dead, and the soldiers come back with this amazing story filled with supernatural phenomena, and their only desire is to silence it? Their only desire is to stop their mouths? Davies and Ellison make the comment. told all that had happened underlines the willful unbelief of the Jewish leaders.
For surely they should ponder the guard's story of a supernatural visitation. Wouldn't you think? Well again, you see they are presuppositionally committed against our Lord and against his resurrection.
The Creation of the False Narrative
Now notice secondly in terms of the false narrative in verses 12 to 15. The background, we've read it in verses 62 to 66 in chapter 27. So the two accounts here, 28, 11 to 15, and what we see in 27, 62 to 66, are only found in Matthew's Gospel. Now, when we say that, or I say that, that doesn't mean it's therefore untrue.
There are particular details concerning the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus that you may only find in one of the individual gospel narratives. Well, this account in terms of the concoction by the Jews with reference to Pilate and the guards and this narrative are in Matthew's gospel.
Matthew's Jewish Audience
The reason for that is because Matthew's original audience was originally Jewish. Now we certainly use the gospel narrative, we use Matthew, obviously we use Mark and Luke and John, but they each had a specific context or a specific target audience. Matthew wrote to Jews, Luke writes to Gentiles, Mark writes to Romans, and John writes for everybody, mainly the church. Not that the others, again, don't write for everybody, but there's a specific context.
And then if you notice that this particular lie gained traction among the Jews. Look at verse 15 in chapter 28. So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
It had traction to at least the middle of the second century. There was a particular father who had a writing. It was Justin Martyr. in his dialogue with Trifo, and he lived in AD 110 to AD 165. So at least up until the middle of the 2nd century, this lie was still being purported.
Now, it has survived into the 21st century under what has been called the Swoon Theory. Muslim theology, not all, but some, teaches the Swoon Theory. All deny the death and resurrection of the Savior, but some propagate the swoon theory. The swoon theory means that Jesus was mostly dead.
He wasn't all the way dead. He was just mostly dead. And so they put a mostly dead Savior into the grave, and there he healed. and there he came back to full strength, and from there he left that tomb, and then it was popularly reported that he had risen from the dead. That has been popularized by James Cameron, a Hollywood producer.
He made a so-called documentary that propagated this lie, this fraud, and this deception. But in terms of Matthew's inclusion, it was first and foremost directed to the Jews. As well, notice the irony of the situation. Look at verse 12.
It says, When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, Tell them his disciples came at night and stole them away while we slept. Now, if you go back to chapter 27 at verse 64, this is the thing they allegedly feared. This was the thing they allegedly feared, that the disciples would come and steal his body. Well, when he's raised from the dead, they then invoke what they fear as the deception or as the lie in order to cover up the truth.
Notice in 2764, therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people, he has risen from the dead. So the last deception will be worse than the first. Wait a minute, fellas, that is precisely what you were afraid of. Now you're gonna actually bribe these guards to propagate this?
Oh yeah, that's far more appealing to us than admitting the truth that he has risen. You see the great lengths that the wicked go to to try to cover up the truth as it is in Jesus. It would be beautiful and blessed and wonderful and awesome if the church of Jesus Christ took the same pains to propagate the truth that the liars take in order to try and cover the truth. The Church of Jesus Christ needs to get serious in terms of going on the offense.
We're always apologizing. We're always feeble and weak in the eyes of the world. I'm not suggesting that we engage in machismo or we get guns and we, you know, slay everybody. But brethren, we need to adopt the mindset of the Apostle Paul in Acts 25.
You can turn there for just a moment. A mindset that is desperately needed in our own generation. I mentioned John the Baptist this morning as a model minister that we ought to pray for our men to be like. We mentioned or we saw in 2 Timothy 1, the apostle Paul tells Timothy, don't be ashamed of me or of the testimony of our Lord, but rather be prepared to suffer, be prepared to suffer pain, be prepared to suffer persecution or oppression, be prepared to suffer imprisonment, be prepared to suffer martyrdom.
What happened to that ethos? What happened to that mindset? What happened to that reality when the people of God would march willingly to the stake in order to burn for our Lord Jesus Christ? The moment a hint, a tiny whiff of oppression comes our way and 90% of the churches in Canada shut their doors with reference to public worship.
Look at Acts 26 at verse 24. Paul is before Festus. And he says, now, I mean, he's before Agrippa, but Festus is present. It says, now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself.
Much learning is driving you mad. Do you know how we respond today? We respond like, well, I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend.
We'll never say such things again. What did God most high that men say what Paul said? But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. The godless, the Antichrist, the wicked, the wretched, they take great pains to cover up the truth as it is in Jesus.
If the church took as great of pains to propagate that message, I suspect we'd be in a whole better place. Back to Matthew chapter 28. When we look at this background, when we look at what's happening here, the situation shows the emptiness of the words of the religious leaders in the passion narrative. Look at chapter 27, specifically at verse 42. 27, well, 41, likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and elders said, he saved others himself he cannot save.
If he is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. No, you won't, because he came down from the cross, he went into the tomb and he was raised again the third day. You're not believing on him, are you? You were liars then, you're liars now, and you're gonna cover this up by fraudulent deception.
It does illustrate the accuracy of Christ's words in Luke chapter 16. Remember that story of the rich man and Lazarus. And the rich man says, the Lord send a prophet to my brothers so that they may hear the truth and they may believe. Jesus says, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.
So back to Matthew 28, specifically at verse 12, notice they meet together, verse 12a, when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together. Whenever we read that in the gospel narratives with reference to the opponents of Jesus Christ, it should be reminiscent of Psalm 2. Psalm 2.2 tells us, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ. Turn back to 26, chapter 26 at verses three and four.
Notice. Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. Turn over to verse 59.
Verse 59, now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death. Chapter 27, verse 1, when morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. And then 2762, same sort of an emphasis. On the next day, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate.
What can we conclude? Anytime these guys get together, bad things happen. Not much has changed in terms of politics. Not much has changed in terms of bad or false religion.
Now,
The Plot of the Leaders
notice the plot of the leaders in verses 12b to 14. First of all, they consider a bribe. It was pay off the soldiers. I mean, Come on, money talks, right?
And we see that it does avail with these soldiers. These soldiers understand that maxim, money talks. Notice, the payoff is reminiscent of the religious leaders paying Judas to betray Christ. Go back to 26, 14 to 16. 26, 14.
Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you? And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him. Same sort of an emphasis.
They'll just pay. One wants to know, where did they get that money? Where did they get that money? Did they take it out of their own accounts?
Probably not. They probably took it out of the coffers in the temple. They probably took it from the people they were serving. See, there is nothing new under the sun, brethren.
Oftentimes, not all the time, but oftentimes, persons and places of authority take money from us to ruin us. It's an unfortunate reality, but such is the case. So that's what's happening here. One commentator says, whereas Judas had been bought to make use of what he knew, these guards are to be bought off to suppress what they knew.
Spurgeon said, for money, Christ was betrayed. And for money, the truth about his resurrection was kept back as far as it could be. So it was money, in terms of the human means, that these men used to facilitate the execution of an innocent man. Remember that.
Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners in the language of the Apostle in Hebrews chapter 7. In the language of Pontius Pilate, the pagan, the heathen, the godless man that examined him, confesses three times, I find no guilt in this man. I find no guilt in this man. I find no guilt in this man.
So why are you going to go along with the Jews and execute him by crucifixion? There is corruption in our world, brethren. And if we don't see it today, we should at least be able to see it back then and at least entertain the possibility that it may make a reemergence in our own day. The payoff demonstrated their hatred for Christ.
The payoff demonstrated their hatred for the truth. They used money to try and cover up the truth. The payoff as well demonstrated their own love of power. See, we always think it's just theology, it's just religion, it's just our understanding of the Bible where in Jesus and the religious leaders, but it adds.
Remember I said, and I've said probably on more occasions than you'd like to remember, that the Sanhedrin was the highest court in Israel at that time. It was made up of 71 men. There was a leader, the chief among them, which was the high priest, and then the 70 others. It reflects what was done back in the days of the Exodus, when Jethro gave good counsel to Moses to delegate his authority so that the judging of Israel would not kill Moses.
But with reference to this Sanhedrin, they not only undertook religious and biblical and theological matters, but politics. Do you think it was just biblical interpretation that animated their hatred for Jesus? Or was it the politics involved? They had power over the people.
When Jesus comes and starts preaching truth, when Jesus comes and starts preaching the way of salvation, and the arrival of the kingdom of God, that incensed and outraged these men. They didn't like the fact that now the crowds were going after Jesus. They say as much, if we don't do something to stop him, then all the world will go after him. That was a politically motivated opposition to our blessed savior.
The payoff demonstrated how far they will sink in their depravity. Matthew Henry is helpful here. He says, let us, meaning the Christian church, never starve a good cause when we see a bad one so liberally supported. In other words, if these men are going to use their money or their people's money in order to engage in such lawlessness and recklessness and wickedness, And if we see in our own generation the sorts of money that is spent, say, on the propagation of Planned Parenthood or on the propagation of other moral evils and atrocities, when we see that the God-haters are so inclined to spend money to advance their wicked agenda, listen to Matthew Henry, let us never starve a good cause.
If there are good causes, brethren, let us fund them liberally and joyfully and with a cheerful heart.
The Fraudulent Narrative Examined
Now notice the fraudulent narrative that they construct in verse 13. Again, it is what it was that they were afraid of. This was the thing that they were allegedly afraid would happen. So tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept.
So in 27 at verse 64, this is the thing they feared. R.T. Frantz says, now that something much worse has happened, the actual resurrection of Christ, this is in their mind, right? It is better to pretend that their plan to thwart Jesus' disciples had failed than to admit the reality of the resurrection they knew his disciples would now claim as fact.
So again, they're in damage control mode and they have to try and cover this up. And just as we read the narrative, perhaps we don't ponder it as we ought, but this is vicious. This is vile and reprehensible. With reference to the wickedness involved, they portray the soldiers as derelict in their duty.
Now brethren, dereliction of duty is never a good thing, but in the Roman Empire it was certainly not a good thing. Dereliction of duty is typically a capital offense. If you're in military service or you're charged with something that affects national security, then if you are asleep on the job or if you wander off on the job or you're not diligent on the job, you can be executed. As well, the idea that they portray the grave robbers, or the disciples rather, as grave robbers.
Again, a potentially capital offense. I mean, brethren, if this gained traction, which it did, and the fact that the disciples weren't rounded up and executed, shows us the good kindness and the providence of God Almighty. And as well, it portrayed Jesus as a fraud. See, it wasn't just the testimony of the women that He has risen.
It was the testimony of Moses. It was the testimony of the prophets. It was the testimony of our Lord Jesus. Matthew 16, Matthew 17, Matthew 20, Matthew 26, he tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, he must be tried, he must be executed, and he must rise again from the dead.
So if this is the case, what they perpetuate is true, it does indict the soldiers, it indicts the disciples, and it indicts the Lord Jesus Christ. But as well, it is a grossly implausible explanation. A grossly implausible explanation.
Apologetic Implausibility of the Theft Claim
Now here's where the apologetics come to play. Because people challenge the resurrection narrative. People have trouble with that even in our own day. They may not subscribe to the swoon theory.
They may not be, you know, these kinds of reckless, lawless wretches that want to deceive and fraud and all that sort of thing. There's a lot of people out there that just discount the resurrection. Consider with reference to the disciples, if this in fact was true, that the disciples of Jesus came along and stole his dead body. Remember, they had abandoned Christ, according to chapter 26 and verse 56.
They fled, they left him. After the resurrection, according to John chapter 20, they were hiding in a house for fear of the Jews. So is it plausible that they would risk detection by guards, Roman soldiers, men that were not foreigners to doing harm, to hurting people, to inflicting pain, to killing people. This was their job.
What'd you do at work today, honey? I killed a few guys. Okay, would you like some bread with your soup? I mean, these were the types of men that you were dealing with.
So is it plausible that they would risk detection by guards steal a body. Now, this is after they strip the body, take the grave clothes, fold them up, and lay them down in a neat little pile, according to John 20, verses 5 and 6. Would they engage in a potentially capital crime, falsify the resurrection, only to be reproached, persecuted, and even put to death. Think about it.
Did the resurrection story, did the resurrection, I don't want to say story. Story doesn't always mean something false, but sometimes it sounds false. The resurrection reality. Did that gain the disciples lots of money and accolades in the empire?
Did everybody say, oh, those are the fellows that preach the resurrected Jesus. Now those who were saved saw the apostles in a wonderful light. Those who were saved appreciated the ministry of these men who had seen and testified concerning the life, death and resurrection of our Lord. But those who did not believe held them in contempt.
They reproached them, they persecuted them, and they even killed them. We saw 2 Timothy this morning, 2 Timothy 4, Paul is sure that he is going to die. Nero was a madman, and Nero gave the kill order for the apostle Paul. What was Paul's crime against the empire?
Preaching the gospel, the life, death, and resurrection, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Very implausible at the level of the disciples. But consider the soldiers. Notice in verse 13.
Tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept. So the soldiers were allegedly asleep. All of them at the same time, they weren't bright enough to take shifts. They weren't smart enough to say, okay, I'm going to get a bit of shut eye, you go ahead and watch guard.
They didn't learn the lesson of the Coneys at least to that level. But as well, none of them heard the disciples roll away a stone and remove a body. I mean, they were, all of them, very good sleepers, to be sure. And then consider the evidentiary value of a sleeping witness.
Imagine that in court. Your honor, my witness here, he happened to be asleep through the whole event, but he knows exactly what happened. What do you think your honor is going to say? Today, they're not that bright, but back then, they might have said, how would he have known what happened if he was asleep?
So the evidentiary value of a sleeping witness is null and void. And if they did know that it was the disciples, which is what the fraud entails, his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept. The disciples? Really?
You were asleep and yet you intuit that it was them? Well, if it were them or was them, not always sure how to say that, but if it was them, then go to their house and investigate. Look in their garage, look in their backyards, see if there's a mound of dirt somewhere. Do your job and investigate this particular scenario.
It is most implausible what these men concoct in terms of a narrative to cover the truth. Now, notice their promise to the guards in verse 14. Verse 14 says, and if this comes to the governor's ears, this is Pontius Pilate, if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure. Now, the problem would be when Pilate found out about this.
If Pilate knew that his guards were that derelict in their duty, what do you think Pilate would do with those men? He would have them executed. He would have them killed. He would have them quickly dispatched because they were wretched.
And as well, if things happen the way that they said, remember this was their original fear of the Jews, according to 2764, we don't want it to be the case that these disciples come and steal the body and then the last deception is greater than the first. Well, if this was in fact the case that, I mean, this is what Pilate should have thought if it had ever come to him, which is very unlikely, but he should have said, well, why didn't you report them for dereliction of duty so that I could get rid of them because they failed in their particular mission? The religious leaders suggest that they will appease Pilate and make them secure. Well, a peace pilot is most likely bribe him, most likely will pay him off too, will keep him off your back.
But if you were those soldiers, would you be that quick and willing to think that these men would make you secure? I certainly wouldn't. I don't think these were the brightest bulbs in the chandelier and bless God or bless rather these religious leaders that they found the most foolish men that they could possibly find to carry out this subterfuge.
Propagation and Compliance
Now notice finally in terms of the propagation of the narrative in verse 15. There is the compliance of the soldiers. It is the grim reality that money talks. The guards were willing to admit to a crime, dereliction of duty, and aid the religious leaders in propagating a myth for a payday and for the promise of security.
It's a sad event in life, isn't it, where every man has his price? Christians ought not to be like that. We should never deny our Savior. We should never deny the brethren.
We should never speak ill of the things of God Most High. We should never call into question the Word of God. We should be prepared to not recant. We should be prepared that if they put a gun to our head, we maintain fidelity to our Sovereign Lord, even to the bitter end.
Now some say, well, I don't know if I could do that. I would imagine that was the confession of everybody in the history of the church. Remember that God gives grace for the time. You don't have grace to go stand in the fire right now, because you don't need to go stand in the fire right now.
But when they haul you off to the fire, you can trust in God Most High, who gives grace to you, so that you will stand in the fire. So that you will be Thomas Hawke, to be able to confess that Christ is Lord of the fire. So we need to be willing to maintain fidelity even to the end. Spurgeon said, may none of us ever be affected by considerations of profit and loss in matters of doctrine, matters of duty, and matters of right and wrong.
That is a principle the church needs to imbibe. That is a principle that the people of God need to imbibe. May none of us ever be affected by considerations of profit and loss in matters of doctrine, matters of duty, and matters of right and wrong. The world is filled with people that will vacillate.
The world is filled with people that capitulate. The world is filled with people that will turn on a dime. But the people of God, with reference to their God and their blessed Savior Christ, need to persevere to the very end. God gives grace for such events.
Now notice the propagation of the lie. Why do you think such a narrative would have gained traction among the Jews? Look at verse 15. So they took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Shameful, isn't it? It's a deception, it's a fraud, it's a lie. As I mentioned before with Justin and his dialogue with Trifo, it continued at least until the middle part of the second century.
So that's in the mid 100s. Most likely it was able to gain traction in the first place because the scientific impossibility of the resurrection. You can hear them now. Well, the science. doesn't lead us to believe this.
The science doesn't ever demonstrate resurrection from the dead. That's why there's something called miracle. That's why God in his ordinary providence works according to what we call the laws of science. But there are those extraordinary workings of God wherein he does miraculous things.
Why? Because he's God. Why? Because things like the resurrection from the dead are necessary for the salvation of our vile, guilty selves.
He was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification, Romans 4.25. Secondly, the refusal to believe that God would raise one like Jesus from the dead. Whatever their messianic expectation was, and they had it, Jesus didn't fit the bill. As far as they were concerned, Messiah would come, Messiah would conquer the Roman Empire, Messiah would subjugate the Roman Empire, Messiah would be enthroned now on earth, and Messiah would make sure that all the Jews had everything they would ever want.
They looked for a temporal and earthly kingdom. They looked for things that the prophets were not speaking of. The prophets were speaking of the coming of Christ to save his people from their sins. The prophets were speaking of the Christ in his first coming, who would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
He would come to die. He would come to be blood atonement. He would come as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. That's not what they were looking for.
So as far as they were concerned, why would God Most High raise this Jesus from the dead? He doesn't meet our expectations. He's not what we're looking for. Well, the problem is your expectations and what you're looking for.
You have to align yourself with the word of God. Remember this morning in Matthew 5, verse 39, Jesus indicts the religious leaders of his day. You search the scriptures for in them, you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me. So whatever it is you were doing in all that time you were searching the scripture for eternal life, you missed it by a million miles.
You missed the Messiah. And in the same instance or in the same way, most likely they probably wondered, how would God raise a man like him from the dead? And then the willful suppression of the facts for fear of the consequences. They had rejected the one God had sent as Israel's Messiah.
And then finally, and Calvin speaks to this, the judgment of God. Why did they do this? Why did people believe this? Why do people believe the lie instead of the truth?
Calvin says it was the finishing stroke of the vengeance of God to blind the Jews, that the resurrection of Christ was buried by the perjury of the soldiers, and that so gross a falsehood was believed. Do you mean when you believe bad things? Do you mean when you believe bad doctrine? When you believe error and heresy and falsehood about God and about his Christ, that could be an indicator that you're under the judgment of God?
Yes, it could be an indicator that you're under the judgment of God. See, when God blesses, when God opens eyes, when God causes persons to be born again, they have no problem with the empty tomb. The God who spoke this world into being, out of all things, out of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days and all very good, that God is most able to raise his son from the dead. So when we are born again, when we have eyes to see, when we put the glasses on, everything comes in sharp relief and we have no problem with the miraculous.
But for those who cannot see, for those who are constantly confounded, those who are in a stupor. In fact, Paul speaks of this in Romans 11, that God gives the Jew a spirit of a stupor in their spirit so that they don't understand the truth as it is in Jesus. There is a partial hardening of the Jews according to Romans chapter 11. John Gill makes the same observation, "...to which judicial blindness and hardness of heart they were given up, as to believe a lie, which had no appearance of truth in it."
Conclusion
Now in conclusion, just a few thoughts. First, the wickedness of the religious leaders. You'll notice when I preach through gospel narratives, I typically go there. And I don't go there simply to pick on these men, but to try and stimulate in our own minds that there is nothing new under the sun.
There's not a brand new opposition against Christ. There's not brand new atheism against God. There's not brand new, you know, developed arguments as to why we should repudiate and reject the Bible. This stuff is been around or has been around.
Solomon wasn't kidding. There is nothing new under the sun. Do you know there were early heretical charismatics in the second century? You know, we think of tongue speaking and the weirdness that goes on under Pentecostalism and charismaticism as a relatively new thing.
No, it's not a relatively new thing. There were the Montanists that engaged in such phenomena. the Jehovah's Witnesses today? What is their tantamount doctrine? What is their operating and fundamental principle?
Jesus is not God. This isn't brand new. This isn't developed with Charles Taze Russell in the 1800s. This goes back to the Arian controversy in the early church, when they said, or they maintained, there was a time when the sun was not.
You see, there is nothing new under the sun, not only in terms of heresy and doctrinal defection, but in terms of the human psyche. Men sinned then, men sin now. And very often it's the same sort of sin. I mean, we get better at it in terms of being able to do it digitally.
We get better at it in terms of doing it through email and text and whatever, but we're still the same sort of sinners. In the first place, the accusation against the disciples or the accusation of the disciples was a horrific charge, a criminal offense, a capital offense. Now remember, these guards were allegedly asleep, and yet they know that it was the disciples that came and stole the body? Let's just assume for the moment that this happened.
Let's just assume for the moment that grave robbers actually took the body of Jesus, which is obviously a false assumption. To blame the disciples for that? would have meant death for those disciples. I mean, these are the kinds of people that have no regard for life. These are the kinds of people that go for political expediency.
These are the kinds of people that will do whatever it takes to sort of cover their tracks and make sure that the truth does not get out. It is horrifying. as well the various plots against Jesus, to destroy him, Matthew 12, 14, to take him by deception and kill him, Matthew 26, three to five, to pay Judas to betray him, Matthew 26, 14 to 15, and then pay soldiers to discredit him in Matthew 28, 11 to 15. That's a lot of animosity toward the Savior. That's a lot of hatred for Jesus.
That's a lot of enmity for one who only went about doing good. What was Jesus' crime? Jesus had no crime. Again, holy, harmless, and undefiled.
I find no fault in him. The crime was is that he threatened them. The crime was is that he would take away their prestige. He would take away their power.
He would make it such that the Romans would come in and take away their lives. It was all about them, selfish, narcissistic people that want to kill somebody in order to cover their own tracks. And then, of course, the attempt to destroy the gospel message. They seem to inherently know what Paul will later write in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
You can turn there. They seem to inherently know what Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 at verses, excuse me, 12 to 19. If we discredit the resurrection, if we kill that narrative, if we destroy the reality that he rose from the dead, then what happens to the gospel? It collapses.
It falls. It shows a defeated Savior. It shows a man who tried. He did live a perfect life.
It shows a man who tried, he went to his own death for what he thought were his people, but the fact that he didn't rise again, everything crumbles in at that point. That's why Romans 4.25 links justification to resurrection, delivered up because of our offenses, raised for our justification. So notice in chapter 15 at verse 12, Now, if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up if, in fact, the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile.
You are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep and Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men, the most pitiable. You take the resurrection out and the whole thing collapses.
These Jews knew that. These Jews understood that. And these Jews had to overcome the narrative by their deception and their fraud.
Counter Commission vs. Great Commission
Secondly, notice the contrast between the missions. You have the Great Commission in verses 16 to 20, and you have the Counter Great Commission in verses 11 to 15. The religious leaders use bribe money to commission the soldiers to spread lies. The religious leaders use bribe money to commission the soldiers to spread lies.
The risen Christ uses the promise of his presence to commission his followers to spread the truth. Notice in verse 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. bribe money to propagate the heresy and the promise of his presence to propagate the truth. Secondly, the religious leader's message gains traction among the Jews, according to verse 15.
The risen Christ's message gains traction among all nations. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. There's an obvious contrast between the two missions, the mission of fraud and the mission of truth. And then thirdly, the religious leaders died and stood before God in judgment.
The risen Christ is with his church always, even to the end of the age. Calvin says, but though this falsehood obtained currency among the Jews, this did not prevent the truth of the gospel from flying at liberty to the very ends of the earth, as it always rises victorious over all the obstacles in the world. Amen and amen. Praise God that though there are those who want to engage in fraud and deception and lies, there is nevertheless a true church.
There is nevertheless a continuum. There is nevertheless faithful disciples, even in our own generation. We prayed for several this morning in our 930 hour. that take the Great Commission seriously, that have gone to the uttermost parts of the earth to proclaim the lordship, the kingship, and the glory of Jesus Christ, and the reality that all who look to Him in faith will have everlasting life.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and we thank you for your glory and your majesty and for the excellence and power that you display in the empty tomb. We thank you for the risen Savior, the ascended Savior, the reigning at the right hand of the Father Savior, and we look forward to his returning glory to judge the living and the dead. And may all of us be cleansed in his precious blood and clothed in his precious righteousness and ready to enter in to that heavenly kingdom on that day.
Father, again, if any here do not know the Lord Jesus, open their hearts and cause them to receive the truth and believe on him. And we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Well, you can turn back to Matthew chapter 26.